ScreenAnarchy Looks In-Depth at Sundance's NEXT WEEKEND Mini-Fest

We already told you about the awesome Opening Night festivities the organizers of Sundance's NEXT WEEKEND festival have in store with tonight's cemetery screening of Chris Smith's hilarious 1999 documentary American Movie, followed by Mark Borchardt's Coven, the film which the documentary explores. Now we're going to take you a bit further in depth into the NEXT WEEKEND program, taking a look at each of the films playing as part of the fest.

Half of the feature lineup at NEXT WEEKEND is made up of films that premiered in the NEXT section at this past January's big daddy Sundance fest. That includes Chad Hartigan's Best of NEXT Audience Award-winning This is Martin Bonner. That film tells the naturalistic story of a lonely gentleman who forms an unlikely connection with an ex-con and stars Paul Eenhoorn, Richmond Arquette, and Robert Longstreet. Monterey Media will release the film on VOD later this month.

Another Sundance fave making its LA debut is Hannah Fidell's A Teacher; a haunting "hot-for-student" story that features a breakthrough performance by Lindsay Burdge. The film has made a good festival run that included a stop at SXSW. Oscilloscope will release the film on VOD August 20 and theatrically September 6.

Sundance NEXT 2013 (part 2)

One of the more intriguing features at the fest is Shaka King's Newlyweeds. Described as a Dark coming-of-age stoner love triangle romance comedy, this one pretty much checks all the boxes. Phase 4 will be releasing the film in the states soon.

Another standout from the wintery fest was Alexander Moors's Beltway sniper drama Blue Caprice. Starring Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, and Tim Blake Nelson, the film was snapped up by Sundance Selects to be released in theaters next month. (Read Christopher Bourne's review)

The last of the NEXT 2013 program is Eliza Hittman's mature feature debut It Felt Like Love. Following a 14-year-old girl as she grasps desperately at sexual maturity, the film features a striking central performance by Gina Piersanti. No word on distribution here yet, so be sure to get out and see this flick at the fest.

The World Premieres

Two films will make their maiden voyages at the NEXT WEEKEND Festival. The first is How To Be A Man, a comedy about a terminally ill man who records an instructional video for his unborn son. The film is the sophomore feature for Chadd Harbold who directed the Kristen Wiig co-starring Revenge for Jolly!, which premiered at Tribeca 2012.

The other preem is Madeleine Olnek's lesbian-hooker-comedy The Foxy Merkins. This feature follows up Olnek's debut Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, which debuted at Sundance in 2011.

More Features

While it indeed premiered at Sundance in 2013, Zachary Heinzerling's Cutie and the Boxer was in the US Documentary Competition instead of the NEXT section. This story of a Japanese-American boxing painter and his wife was critically acclaimed and won Heinzerling a directing prize. Radius scooped up the film and will release it starting, literally, next weekend.

The other documentary on tap at NEXT WEEKEND is the SXSW-premiering 12 O'Clock Boys. Directed by Lotfy Nathan, the film follows a young boy growing up in Baltimore as he dreams of joining the popular outlaw dirt-bike gangs that roam the city's mean streets (here's Jason Gorber's review). Oscilloscope will be bringing this one out soon.

The final feature to point you towards is the Tribeca 2013 Special Jury Prize winning Stand Clear of the Closing Doors. The second feature from Sam Fleishner (after 2009's Wah Do Dem), this film follows an autistic teen as he travels through New York's subway system. Oscilloscope scooped this one as well. No word yet on when it will drop (but here is John Jarzemsky's review).

Shorts and More

What's a film festival without a shorts program and of course Sundance has something special lined up for their NEXT WEEKEND program. The main attraction is the NEXT Shorts Program which features 10 of the best shorts around including Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva's #PostModem, Andrew Zuchero's Martin Starr-starring The Apocalypse, and Rily Stearn's hilarious The Cub.

On top of all that, the fest has also curated a special YouTube Shorts Program with short videos from VICE, Machinima, College Humor, and more.